Many of the country's more than 250 organ transplant centers have recently moved to require COVID-19 vaccination for both organ recipients and donors, Kaiser Health News reports. 

Nationwide, Hawaii administered the most vaccinations Oct. 12, according to data from Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University. 

Various factors are driving physicians and nurses to leave their jobs — or the healthcare field altogether — including burnout, increased stress and higher-paying job opportunities. Here are four statistics that illustrate the prevalence or risk of these departures.

The virus shedding from people with breakthrough COVID-19 infections may be less infectious than that coming from an unvaccinated COVID-19 patient, NPR reported Oct. 12. 

Some surgeons are rethinking the informal, yet widespread practice of requiring patients with alcoholic liver disease to be sober for six months before they can join a waitlist for a liver transplant, Kaiser Health News reported Oct. 12.

While the national COVID-19 rates are declining, the U.S. is still far from the pandemic lows it recorded in early summer 2021 before the more highly transmissible delta variant became the dominant coronavirus strain. 

Faced with a crisis in pediatric mental health, Children's Health, a leading pediatric healthcare system in North Texas, partnered with Philips to develop an innovative behavioral health solution for pediatric patients who displayed intense aggression and anxiety.

Even as COVID-19 infections begin to fall more than a year and a half into the pandemic, many Americans continue to face severe financial problems and disruptions to healthcare access, poll findings released Oct. 12 found. 

Since late August, the CDC has seen a 12 percent jump in reports of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, a rare but serious immune response linked to COVID-19 infection, according to an Oct. 11 CNN report. 

Health officials began notifying people Oct. 8 who may have been exposed to measles at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, after a case of the disease was reported in the facility, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. 

Vaccine makers are leading studies using mRNA technology, which made the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines possible, in hopes of creating more effective flu shots in the future, The New York Times reports. 

A new California law making harassment at vaccination sites a misdemeanor punishable by a $1,000 fine and/or six months in jail is raising concerns over violations of free speech protections, according to Kaiser Health Network.

A University of Michigan study published Oct.11 found Black COVID-19 patients are less likely to receive medical follow-ups after hospitalizations and more likely to experience longer wait times to return to work. 

New COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are falling nationwide, but hospitals in some states are still struggling to treat high volumes of virus patients.

Preliminary research shows fully vaccinated people who've contracted a breakthrough COVID-19 infection have strong protection, indicating they don't need to rush to get a booster dose, The Wall Street Journal reported Oct. 10. 

Increasing salaries for nurses to closely mirror clinical salaries and supporting new investments in nurses' mental health were among the ideas presented Oct. 7 by an Oregon nurses union to improve retention in the field, according to statements emailed to Becker's.

Ahead of International Infection Prevention Week, which runs from Oct. 17-23, here are the 10 most read infection control-related stories Becker's has covered since the start of 2021: 

Colleges around Rhode Island are experiencing nursing faculty shortages that are exacerbating the staff shortages at hospitals around the state, according to an Oct. 8 WPRI-TV report. 

Multiple healthcare leaders in Nebraska testified before a legislative panel examining healthcare staff shortages, urging the state to help address the current conditions, ABC affiliate KETV reports.

The nation's seven-day average for new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths fell this week, while vaccination rates rose, according to the CDC's COVID data tracker weekly review published Oct. 8.